In conventional techniques, hernial canal repair is generally carried out by suturing. However, that method of repair is not entirely satisfactory: given that the suture line is subject to a large amount of tension, there is a risk of tearing, which could then lead to recurrence of the hernia.
In order to mitigate that disadvantage, tension-free hernia repair techniques have been proposed.
In particular, a known technique is to position a sheet of synthetic prosthesis material, of tulle mesh or analogous type, on the hernial canal, to reinforce or replace the weakened tissue. For example, in open surgical repair of an inguinal hernia, a band may be used which is positioned on the inguinal ring, on the side remote from the peritoneum, this band being slit to allow the spermatic cord to pass, and the two tails of the band are then wound around the spermatic cord. The barrier thus created makes it possible for the inguinal canal floor to regenerate.
Such a barrier-forming patch may also be positioned by non-invasive surgery. A device using a trocar to deploy prosthesis sheets inside the abdominal cavity, on the peritoneum, is described in EP 0 544 485, for example.
Another tension-free repair technique, which may be used in combination with the above-mentioned technique consists in obturating the hernial canal with a prosthesis obturation device.
Usually a surgeon makes an obturating device by rolling a patch cut out from prosthesis material in order to obtain a cylinder of appropriate dimensions.
Other shapes of prosthesis obturating device are also used, such as rectangular obturators, conical obturators or necked obturators enabling them to be positioned relative to the hernial canal. The following may be consulted in that respect.
`Prostheses in Abdominal Wall Hernia`, Robert Bendavid, RG Landes Company, Austin, pages 375-379, 380-382, 383-388, 389-398, 408-410, 411-412, 413-414, 446-449, and also U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,357 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,432.
Other known prostheses are constituted by cylindrical obturators terminating at one end with prosthesis sheets for suturing by the surgeon to the non-weakened muscles on either side of the hernial canal to complement the obturation provided by the obturator. In that respect reference may advantageously be made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,077, U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,682 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,374.
The object of the invention is to propose a prosthesis obturating device which is simple in structure and simple to manipulate and which is also very effective.